1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus equipped with a shock absorbing mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional monitoring camera apparatus, a dome cover covering a camera unit is formed of polycarbonate resin or the like, which exhibits shock resistance, and an exterior casing covering a camera main body is formed of metal, thereby providing a shock resistance performance. However, unlike the exterior casing formed of metal, the dome cover, which is formed of resin, may, if not fractured, momentarily suffer a great deformation by a shock. Thus, when an impact of not less than a fixed level is applied, it can happen that the deformed dome cover comes into contact with an interior structure such as the camera unit to damage the interior structure, disabling it from functioning.
To solve the above problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-174572, for example, discusses a monitoring camera apparatus equipped with a shock absorbing mechanism. A monitoring camera apparatus equipped with a conventional shock absorbing mechanism will be described below with reference to FIG. 10.
A rotation stand 301, which is a support member supporting a camera unit 300, is fixed in position by means of a shaft screw 304 passed through an elongated hole 302a vertically provided in a post of a rotation bracket 302. A coil spring 303 is provided between the shaft screw 304 and the post. Due to this construction, the rotation stand 301 is supported so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction and capable of linear movement in the vertical direction, so that it is possible to absorb a shock when a cover 305 is hit, thus preventing the camera unit 300 from being damaged.
In the conventional monitoring camera apparatus equipped with a shock absorbing mechanism, the camera unit 300 is capable of linear movement in the vertical direction, so that the camera unit 300 can retreat to absorb a shock from a direction perpendicular to the dome cover. However, in the case of a shock applied from a direction oblique or horizontal with respect to the dome cover, the interior structure inclusive of the camera unit 300 cannot always make a retreating movement, which means there is a fear of the camera unit suffering damage by the shock.
In most cases, a monitoring camera apparatus is mounted to a ceiling or a wall surface, so that one must expect an external shock to be applied thereto from every possible direction with respect to the dome cover thereof, which means the above conventional construction is rather inadequate.